1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a display device having an improved viewing angle, an enhanced display characteristic and an enhanced manufacturing efficiency, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among a variety of types of display devices, a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device has improved characteristics over other display devices due to recently developed semiconductor technology.
For example, the LCD device has advantages of smaller size, lighter weight and lower power consumption. As a result, the LCD device is often used to replace a cathode ray tube (“CRT”). Further, the LCD device is frequently used in relatively small-sized products such as a mobile phone or a portable digital assistant (“PDA”), for example, as well as in mid- to large-sized products such as a monitor or a television, for example. In addition, the LCD device is used in a large number of information processing apparatuses which require a display means.
However, the LCD device has a disadvantage, in that a viewing angle is narrow with respect to other display devices. To overcome this disadvantage and to enhance a display characteristic having a wider viewing angle, a vertically aligned (“VA”) mode LCD device has been developed. In the VA LCD device, a single pixel, a minimum unit for displaying an image in the LCD device, is divided into a plurality of domains, and a major axis of liquid crystal molecules is aligned in a substantially vertical direction with respect to two opposite facing substrates when no electric field exists between the two opposite facing pixels.
Further, the liquid crystal molecules of a respective domain in the VA mode LCD device are aligned to have pretilt directions different than pretilt directions of other domains. More specifically, in a patterned vertically aligned (“PVA”) mode LCD device, pretilt directions of the liquid crystal molecules are induced by a fringe field produced by cut-off patterns formed on a common electrode and an opposite pixel electrode facing the pixel electrode.
However, in the PVA mode LCD device, an additional manufacturing process is required to form the cut-off pattern on the common electrode and the pixel electrode. Similarly, an additional process is also required in other modes LCD devices (e.g., other than the PVA mode LCD device) to align the liquid crystal molecules. As a result, LCD devices of the prior art have a disadvantage of decreased manufacturing efficiency, due to the additional manufacturing processes thereof.
Moreover, a VA mode LCD device of the prior art has a problem of a region of uncontrolled liquid crystal molecules due to interference or collisions between the liquid crystal molecules aligned in different respective pretilt directions, or due to an influence on the liquid crystal molecules by an unintentional force. The region of uncontrolled liquid crystal molecules deteriorates light transmittance and causes the LCD display device brightness to decrease.